An on line discussion of books that have been or are currently being read by members of the Audubon Naturalist Society Conservation Philosophy Reading Group. We choose books, old and new, that collectively constitute the intellectual underpinnings of conservation philosophy.
Oct 26, 2026 - The Place of Tides, by James Rebanks, and Eradication: a fable, by Jonathan Miles,
A double header: Two short books by two men who travel to two different islands that have been altered in different ways by human interference.
I enjoyed Place of Tides very much. Although at times it got a little slow, I realized that slowness was necessary to transmit the experience that James Rebankswas having in that beautiful desolate place with those two delightful women. The map makes that area look like a place that would take a lifetime to explore. Rather just pick an island and hunker down for a lifetime of fishing and husbanding ducks! The way those people once lived, and how Anna still lives part time, or did until what was described as her last year on one of the 6000 islands that dot that coastline, at one time more than enough for each family who can tolerate that much social deprivation to have their own. What a tidy social circle it must have been for Anna and even more for her ancestors. How gratifying it was to slow down my imagination in response to Rebanks' words, to soak up the spring beauty and then shudder at the thought of spending a year on one of those islands, as earlier generations might have done before motor boats became available.
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I enjoyed Place of Tides very much. Although at times it got a little slow, I realized that slowness was necessary to transmit the experience that James Rebankswas having in that beautiful desolate place with those two delightful women. The map makes that area look like a place that would take a lifetime to explore. Rather just pick an island and hunker down for a lifetime of fishing and husbanding ducks! The way those people once lived, and how Anna still lives part time, or did until what was described as her last year on one of the 6000 islands that dot that coastline, at one time more than enough for each family who can tolerate that much social deprivation to have their own. What a tidy social circle it must have been for Anna and even more for her ancestors. How gratifying it was to slow down my imagination in response to Rebanks' words, to soak up the spring beauty and then shudder at the thought of spending a year on one of those islands, as earlier generations might have done before motor boats became available.
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